Regardless, when Jiangg Ning walked out of the restaurant and returned to her car, she breathed a sigh of relief.
The process had been perilous, but at least she'd achieved her goal.
She sat in the car, unable to stop recalling what Chen Yuan had said as she was leaving.
"All those nice things you said... they're just excuses so you can walk away without feeling guilty."
It was as if his words still lingered in her ears, incredibly clear.
Jiangg Ning pressed her lips together tightly, suppressing the guilt in her heart.
Beside her, Jiangg Yao, who had been looking down, hastily sat up straight when she saw her sister get in the car. Hope filled her eyes as she asked, "How did it go?"
"How else could it go? He agreed."
"He agreed..." Jiangg Yao repeated, lowering her head again. An unconcealable sense of loss welled up in her eyes.
She was very unwilling, very resentful, but had no power to stop it. Before arriving, she hadn't been so emotional, but after seeing Chen Yuan, she lost her composure.
After all, he had been her boyfriend for half a year, and on top of that, she found every aspect of him captivating.
'How many times in life do you meet a guy like that?'
Chen Yuan had been so good to her, completely sincere, doing everything a boyfriend should. When she bumped into him at the restaurant entrance and looked up, his gaze was filled with concern. Afraid she was cold, he'd immediately taken off his jacket for her.
'But how did I treat him in return?'
Lies, deceit, deliberately giving him the cold shoulder, saying hurtful things to break his heart.
Jiangg Yao's head sank lower and lower. Sitting in the car, she felt a powerful urge to go find him and confess everything, but ultimately, she didn't have the courage.
VROOM—
The engine started.
In the car, neither of the two women spoke. They remained in a shared silence, and the atmosphere instantly became oppressive.
It wasn't until they were nearing the road back to their apartment complex that Jiangg Ning finally broke the silence.
"You must be hungry, Yaoyao. When we get home, I'll make us some shredded pork noodles."
"Sis..."
Jiangg Yao looked up, large tears rolling from the corners of her eyes and dripping onto her collar.
"Are we horrible people? I feel so sorry for Chen Yuan. Did we do something wrong?" Jiangg Yao said, her hands clenched so tightly her nails dug into her palms.
"There was no other way. Don't cry."
"Sis, why aren't you sad? Aren't you sad at all?"
Jiangg Ning said nothing. She slowly brought the car to a stop, letting Jiangg Yao cry while clutching at her clothes. She simply stared out at the colorful night scenery.
...
"Boss, four orders of fried noodles with fried eggs. Some pork skewers... and ten skewers each of roasted pork belly and chicken wings."
Chen Yuan hadn't forgotten to bring back food. In his left hand, he carried a lavish late-night snack, and in his right, he carried beer.
It was a heavy load.
He hurried all the way back to the dorm, arriving at half-past eight in the evening.
Before he even pushed the door open, he could hear shouting from inside.
"Why didn't you smoke it off? The enemy sniper has a direct line of sight! How am I supposed to cross without smoke?"
"Shut up! It's my clutch."
"Alright, alright. Package dropped mid. Let's see if you can win this one-v-three."
"What if I win?"
"If you win, you're my daddy."
A smile touched the corners of Chen Yuan's mouth. He pushed open the door and saw Quan Yafeng staring intently at Liu Nan's screen, so anxious he looked like he wanted to snatch the mouse and play himself. With every kill, Quan Yafeng's eyes grew wider.
"One left! Trust me, go—FUCK!"
Before he could finish, the screen turned gray. Quan Yafeng slapped his thigh in frustration.
"Alright, stop playing. Look what I have." Just as the two were lamenting their loss, Chen Yuan held up the late-night snack in his hands and called out.
Besides the two gamers, even Wei Zhen, who was on his bed, rolled over to look, his eyes filled with intense anticipation and desire.
"Chen Yuan! What did you bring? Holy shit, barbecue!"
"And my favorite, fried eggs!"
The two of them swarmed him like they were welcoming a triumphant general.
"Not only are there the fried eggs you like, I also got Zhen his favorite chicken wings." Chen Yuan handed over the food while setting up the foldable table in the dorm.
The three had been gaming for hours and were starving. Seeing the steaming hot food in the plastic bags, they were practically moved to tears with gratitude.
The most crucial part was that Chen Yuan had actually remembered their favorite foods!
"Dad, you're the best." Wei Zhen climbed down from his bunk, about to give Chen Yuan a big hug.
"It's nothing. I wasn't full either, so I bought a lot."
"I'm not like those two animals, only caring about the food and not you," Wei Zhen said, pulling over a small stool for Chen Yuan to sit on while shooting a disdainful look at the other two. "I present to you a song~ Father! Oh time, oh time, please slow down, don't let him grow old again~ I wish—"
"Okay, okay, that's enough." Chen Yuan quickly interrupted his performance. Wei Zhen's singing was lethal, and the worse it sounded, the more he loved to sing.
The story went that back in high school, Wei Zhen had a crush on a girl. He finally worked up the courage to confess during graduation season, only to serenade her face-to-face with the song "Can't Help It."
Man, the moment he opened his mouth... The girl might have had a decent impression of him before, but after being forced to listen to the entire song, not even a rocket scientist could calculate the extent of her psychological trauma.
"You bought beer too? Looks like you're planning to go hard tonight, Chen Yuan."
"Are you in or not?"
"Oho, feeling wild today, are we? I'm in!"
Quan Yafeng was one of the Dongbai People. Liu Nan was a typical... a typical guy. And Wei Zhen was from Zhongzhou.
When the four of them first arrived as new students, they had a huge drinking session on their very first day as roommates.
Of course, Quan Yafeng could drink the most.
Chen Yuan rarely drank. The few times he did were at family gatherings where he couldn't refuse his elders. He was the type to take a couple of sips with a frown and then stick out his tongue in disgust.
But surprisingly, he had a high tolerance for alcohol.
Today, he suddenly felt like drinking. It wasn't for show; it was because if he drank a lot, he'd fall asleep faster in bed. Otherwise, thinking about Jiangg Ning...
'It'd be a lie to say I'm not sad.'
A guy's first love is always the hardest to forget. Perhaps it's the one time in life when you give the most sincerely and without expecting anything in return. After all, he had given her all his hopes and dreams.
Chen Yuan pressed his lips together and took the chicken wing Wei Zhen handed him. The rich aroma hit him, and he closed his eyes to take a deep whiff.
The sadness in his eyes vanished as quickly as it came.
PSSSH—
The guys all pulled the tabs on their beer cans. Amidst laughter and cheers, the malty-smelling beer went GULP GULP GULP down their throats.
"Cheers!"
...
College life was actually a lot of fun, even if it was a bit different from what Chen Yuan had imagined.
But there were the energetic students on the tree-lined avenues, the erudite lecturers in the classrooms, the beautiful upperclassmen in short skirts on the sports field, and even the lush plane trees that covered the campus.
All of it made him feel that coming to Landa University was the right choice. All those late nights he'd spent studying in high school hadn't been for nothing.
And his roommates were great, too. The three clowns never failed to make him happy.
As they chugged their beers in the dorm room, Quan Yafeng, Liu Nan, and Wei Zhen were all clamoring, telling funny stories from their high school days. One would interject, then another would make a sarcastic comment.
Even Chen Yuan, who was usually stoic, was laughing so hard his cheeks ached.
After a few rounds, everyone was in high spirits. Their voices grew louder, punctuated with phrases like, "Listen to me," "Honestly," and "Let me say something."
Especially when the topic of Wei Zhen's singing confession came up.
"Just what were you thinking back then? Even writing a Love Letter would have been better than singing. Were you really that confident in your voice?"
"Don't bring it up. I was an idiot. Thinking back on it now makes me cringe so hard I could turn myself inside out."
"Sigh... singing is nothing," Quan Yafeng, his face suddenly flushed, slammed the table. He'd drunk the most and was now the most worked up. "All eyes on me! I have an announcement to make!"
He spread his arms wide, his lips curling downward in a faint smile, as if he was about to burst out laughing.
Quan Yafeng began his story:
"Back in the day! I was chasing this girl. She was one of those really good students, you know? Fair-skinned, small and skinny. I liked her so much! So I... I made a confession video and played it on the multimedia projector in front of the whole class during evening self-study!"
"And what happened? She didn't say yes. My confession just made her cry for two whole class periods!"
"That's not all. I kept pestering her for another two months."
"Until finally, the girl told me if I kept it up, she wouldn't be able to study anymore. She told me to stay away... Guess what I said?"
Quan Yafeng let out a *hic* and looked around at the other three.
"What did you say?" Wei Zhen and Chen Yuan asked in unison.
"Oh my god, I can barely listen to this. Playing a confession video in front of the whole class..." Liu Nan put himself in that situation and was instantly hit by a wave of secondhand embarrassment so strong he wanted to jump out a window.
"I said! 'This humble servant shall retreat! And this retreat—'"
Quan Yafeng bellowed the two lines with all his might.
The other three in the dorm immediately burst into raucous laughter. Before he could even finish, two of them were already on the floor, clutching their stomachs.
"'—is for a lifetime!'"
After shouting, Quan Yafeng couldn't hold it in anymore and started laughing himself. He leaned back, looked out at the deepening night, and closed his eyes, his face full of nostalgia.
'Those were such stupid times.'